192. Owen Grady 16 Part 1

~"You are the most infuriating man I have ever had the misfortune of having to work with!" I growled, earning myself a sexy grin from him in return. I had never before met anyone in my life who was able to simultaneously infuriate and exhilarate me in the manner he was able to. He pushed me intellectually, challenging my theories and ideas, forcing me to defend them on the spot. As much as I hated it, a part of me loved it as well. I spent much of my spare time looking at researched and trying to come up with new ways to prove him wrong. I had come close a few times. He would stop, stare at me in confusion for a moment before such a pleased look would cross his face and then he would rebut my argument. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he actually enjoyed our verbal war fare as much as I did. One of these days though, I would leave him utterly speechless. “Haven’t I heard this one before?” Owen teased, climbing the stairs that lead to the catwalk extending over the raptor enclosure. I huffed, silently following him. Looking down, I could already see Delta and Charlie coming out of the trees. They looked up at us, chirping as they playfully snapped at each other. It had taken a lot of hard work, but I had managed to do something that no one else but Owen had managed to do; gain their trust. Don’t get me wrong, the raptors would never trust or respect me in the same manner they did Owen, he was their Alpha after all, but it was still something I was immensely proud of. We quickly got to work on the days training session. Owen would run the raptors through their training exercise while I watched and took notes. My job was to watch each raptor behaviour and record my findings. I looked at things such as how each raptor acted with their environment individually, with other members of the raptor pack, how they interacted with Owen, or sometimes even myself, if I could get a hold of a camera beforehand. It was endlessly fascinating and I learned something every day. It even helped Owen with how he acted with the raptors. “Owen, the workers from the new exhibit just called. They’re running ahead of schedule, and they want to know if you’re able to come by now, rather than later,” Barry called over, nearly causing me to jump out of my skin. After the mess with Indominus Rex, a few new rules had been implemented. Claire, who had returned at the insistence of one Mr. Grady, had all the enclosures inspected periodically, especially ones for new exhibits. No one wanted the same mistakes to be made, and the job had fallen upon Owen to make sure that Indominus Rex never happened again. “Alright, just give me a few minutes to finish up with the girls,” Owen replied, his attention never wavering from the raptors in the enclosure below. He never did. Whenever he worked with them or any dinosaur, they had his full attention. Despite our constant verbal sparring, which seemed to be an endless source of amusement for the rest of the staff, Owen and I did work really well together. In no time at all, we had wrapped up and I was taking the last of the feed buckets back to where they were kept when not in use. “You too girl,” Barry said, gently taking the buckets from me. “Huh?” I gave him such a blank stare. Why me? Owen always did these calls on his own while I did other things, like compile the data from that session. “Claire’s orders.” “And how am I supposed to get there?” Eyebrow raised, I followed his gaze which had settled over my shoulder. “You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered, seeing Owen waiting for me on his bike. This was the last thing I needed, to be pressed so intimately against him like that, feeling the vibrations of the bike. I hoped to hell that my blush wasn’t showing, though with Barry’s chuckle ringing in my ears as I walked over, I had a feeling I was wrong. “I don’t bite, I promise,” Owen said grinning, “Well, not unless you ask nicely.” I shook my head groaning, as I got on the bike. I tried to ignore Barry’s laughter as Owen sped off. _____ “The docs already been by and the Allosaurus’s are still locked in their paddock. You two are free to go in whenever ya like,” one of the workers said. He was sitting at his computer station, looking like he would rather be anywhere but where he was. Alright then, I thought, making my way over to the entrance. Owen was busy talking to one of the other workers animatedly, so I left him to it. He’ll catch up when he’s ready. My eyes began roaming over every aspect of the paddock that I could see. This was the first time I had come with Owen for this purpose and I really didn’t want to mess up. I waited patiently for another worker to buzz me in. As I entered the paddock, I looked over every aspect critically, so lost in my observations, I didn’t hear the sound of a lock clicking. So far everything seemed good. From what I could see of the size so far, it seemed large enough to comfortable house two juvenile Allosaurus’s. At their current height of 5’9, they both easily towered over my small 5’4 frame. By the time they were fully grown, they would reach a height of eight feet and a length of twenty five feet. They definitely had a lot of growing left to do to be able to reach that size. Since Jurassic World tended to create dinosaurs that are bigger than they were in nature, like Owen’s raptors, I wouldn’t be surprised if these Allosaurus’s grew up to be much bigger than that. As I continued to look around I mentally checked things off. Trees? Check. Foliage? Check. Lots of both? Check and check. Snap. The sound reverberated through the silent enclosure, amplifying the sound. The dinosaurs should be in their paddock. I should be alone in here, right? I turned around slowly, not seeing anything. “Owen, if that’s you, cut it out, you’re not funny,” I called out, my voice shaky. The Allosaurus’s are in their paddocks, right? That’s what the worker said, and I clung to that thought desperately. Snap. “Owen?” “Don’t move,” he replied, “Just stay perfectly still and trust me.” I turned towards Owen, ready to demand to know what was going on, only to find him with his attention focused to the right of me, his hands out stretched in the same manner he used when working with his raptors. My eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to where he was looking, and what I saw had me freezing in sheer terror. Oh no, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening! There before me stood one of the juveniles, staring at me with its cold eyes. I had been assured that the dinosaurs were still in their paddocks! How was this even possible? I couldn’t help but compare how tiny I was to this massive creature that stood so close to me. How had it even managed to sneak up on me? She took several steps towards me and my fight or flight instincts finally decided to kick in. I scrambled back a few steps, managing to trip on a fallen branch, landing on the ground with a soft “oomph”. The Allosaurus lowered herself slightly, scenting the air. She’s getting ready to attack, I realized. “Over here girl, eyes on me,” Owen commanded, managing to draw the carnivores attention off of me. I could see him slowly moving closer, working to put himself between me and the hungry predator. “Are you insane? Get out of here, save yourself!” I whisper-yelled. “Not an option.” Seriously, was he as crazy as everyone always told me he was? Why was he still here? Didn’t he know that I couldn’t live with myself if he got hurt because of my stupid mistake? She took another step towards me and I couldn’t help the whimper of fear that escaped, eyes squeezing shut, only to open them seconds later when it suddenly became darker. Part of me nearly collapsed in relief that it was Owen standing directly in front of me, and not the dinosaur. “Get up slowly,” he commanded. Before I could even attempt to convince my limbs that it really was in our best interest to move like Owen told us to, the dinosaur lunged, using her massive head to easily knock Owen aside. I screamed, not taking my eyes off of him as he lay motionless in the grass several feet away. Was he dead? Oh god, he was dead wasn’t he? “Owen?” I called, my voice breaking. He wasn’t moving. This was all my fault. My eyes squeezed shut as I sat there, accepting my fate. I had gotten us both killed. The sound of a gunshot rang throughout the paddock, quickly followed by two more shots in quick succession. Why were the guards saving me now? Owen was already gone, why couldn’t they let me go too? I could hear someone calling my name, but it wasn’t till I felt hands cupping my face that I opened my eyes. “I’m not dead?” I asked incredulously. “Very much alive,” Own replied softly, his thumb stroking my cheek. “But how? I thought you were dead?” “Faked it, I’m sorry if I worried you.” Worried me? The man had scared me half to death! I shifted onto my knees, throwing my arms around his neck as I buried my face into his chest. “Don’t every do that to me again.” I murmured. “Trust me, I don’t plan on it.” He held me for a moment as we both calmed down from the near death experience. “You should have gotten yourself out of there,” I said pulling back. “I mean the Allosaurus clearly aren’t your raptors, what were you thin-” Pressing his lips against mine, he effectively cut off my rant. I could hear the other workers in the background wolf whistling, as I all but melted against him, but I didn’t care. Damn, he was good at this, really good. I couldn’t help the goofy smile that I knew appeared on my face the moment he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. By the looks of it, or rather the feel of it, he was just as effected by that kiss as I was. Things I think, were beginning to look up.